How The Big Dumb Project scared the internet and helped launch BGMI’s latest character to much fanfare

In the current age of advertising, what is it that can make your campaign stand out? Scaring the wits out of people, quips The Big Dumb Project. They should know. After all, their #HauntedBrideSpotted campaign had the internet in a frenzy and successfully launched BGMI’s newest character: the haunted bride in question, Anamika.

What started as grainy, natural and real-looking ghost sighting footage shared by the general public soon turned into full-blown news segments as the word spread that Mumbai had been taken over by a creepy ghost, dressed in red. By the time BGMI had revealed that it was all a part of their marketing ploy to launch Anamika, the campaign had clocked over 100 million views.

“It’s not that easy to fool people on the internet these days,” says Bandana, co-founder at The Big Dumb Project (TBDP), the brains behind the campaign. “So we knew we had to be smart with how we went about this.” To start things off, TBDP ensured they recreated Anamika’s costume and made it look as close as possible to the real thing.

Next, they roped in a cosplayer and shot content overnight, making it look as authentic as possible. When it came to the edit, they had to make a decision. “We could have made some stylish and snappy edits with the content that we had on us. However, it wouldn’t have helped the campaign. Instead, we decided to make minimal edits to the footage and decided to keep it natural.”

That decision worked wonders for BGMI and the team at TBDP. People began interacting with the content as if it were real, old-school ghost sighting footage. “When our friends and family members, who were unaware of the campaign, began sharing the content with us, we knew we’d struck gold.”

The campaign was finished off with an amusing streamer hijack wherein three popular streamers live streams were haunted in real time by Anamika, leading to shocked viewers. At the end of the campaign, the numbers spoke for themselves. The campaign hit 20 million views in the first week, which grew to a 100 million views by November 20, when BGMI officially launched Anamika.

Marathi news channels picked up on the story and ran with it. People shared it with their friends and family. The frenzy continued even after the launch of Anamika. Excited BGMI gamers made content comparing Anamika in-game and in real life, using footage of the sightings found on Instagram.

BGMI had a hit new character on their roster. And nobody was happier than TBDP. The agency was founded by 5 friends—Bandana Bisht, Chetan Kadalli, Nitish Hukkeri, Pratyush Raj and Rico Mendes—with the aim of bringing back the magic of the ‘90s era of advertising. Having worked with the likes of Netflix, Duolingo, Pokémon GO, CRED, Orient Electric and Free Fire, the agency looks to be well on their way to achieving their mission, especially with their successes in 2025.

TBDP started the year with the viral campaign, song and music video, “Bade Bhaiya, FF Khelna Hai” for Free Fire Max that clocked a staggering 400 million views collectively. They followed it up with IPL ads for Pokémon GO and a whole host of viral social media posts for the likes of Duolingo and BGMI. And they now end the year yet another successful campaign, this time for BGMI.

With half a decade of experience in their tank, TBDP is looking to go big in 2026. Having conquered the gaming industry in 2025, they plan to help brands from more verticals take the internet by storm and triple their film output next year. They're also counting on the talent industry, having recently begun their talent wing (The Big Dumb Talent). It's safe to say that TBDP is leaving no stone unturned to make 2026 their year.

Anamika case study:https://www.linkedin.com/posts/the-big-dumb-project_hauntedbride-activity-7407383283908538369-x3RC?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAACewldUBlujMZ28GjNWBvi8FQJU2MODeL3Y  

Website link:https://thebigdumbproject.com/